Initially planned as a satellite tasting room when it was first announced last year, Modern Times Beer’s new project in Encinitas, dubbed the The Far West Lounge, has since evolved into a full-fledged vegan restaurant. This will be Modern Times’ first venue with a food component in San Diego, although the Point Loma-based brewery recently launched beer-focused eateries in Los Angeles and Portland.Once the domain of hippies and weirdos, "plant-based" or vegan diets are becoming more mainstream as advocates tout health and environmental benefits. Encinitas already has at least three fully vegan restaurants: Plant Power, which replicates traditional American fast food, near the Santa Fe Vons; the fast-casual Native Foods next to Ralph's in New Encinitas; and Leucadia's long-standing raw food Peace Pies.
As founder Jacob McKean notes, “When we first signed our lease on this location, we didn’t have a single operating kitchen. Now we have two, with several more in planning, and the process of developing the menu and building the restaurant side of our business has been incredible. I’m extremely excited to now be in a position to bring our food program to Encinitas.”
The switch from tasting room to restaurant came in response to an appeal from a local community group. Last month, the new proposal was unanimously approved at a Encinitas Planning Commission and the appeal window recently closed with no new appeals made. McKean says that the original layout of the 150-seat space on S. Coast Highway remains the same, design-wise, save for office space that has now been swapped for kitchen.
Saturday, February 17, 2018
Modern Times restaurant goes Full Vegan
Eater San Diego:
Looking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteme too. Better way to feel heathy and live longer.
ReplyDeleteNow if I could only do it myself.
Modern Times was one of the more responsible applications to serve by committing to close at 10pm.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, and it applies currently with the vegan restaurant, all they have to do is wait for a year and apply for what they wanted to begin with which was to not be part of the downtown problem. Kudos to them about closing by 10pm. to separate themselves from the current situation.
What is a pie in the sky wish is that several of the worst bars should be penalized by having to close earlier than 2am. Midnight is a good place to start.
Instead, the worst has been rewarded with an outdoor patio expansion until 10pm. What should have been awarded to this known liar PB bar owner was to be made to close at midnight, as a starting point.
These supposedly food serving centered establishments that after 10pm morph into bars does not absolve them of criticism. They are all bars. That is where they make their money.
Food is an ultimate sideline to the profits they all make on booze, especially after 10pm.
PB North fits, and it is a sad statement that this was allowed to happen in Encinitas. Tax dollars is why. Money talked.
Native Foods is like the rubber farm. It's like going to Discount Tires and chewing on a Pirelli.
ReplyDelete